Black holes and high winds bad news for galaxies

Credit: ESA

For the first time, astronomers have measured winds associated with a black hole and found they blast along at a quarter of the speed of light. Andrew Masterson reports.

As in humans, it seems, so in deep space. After consuming large amounts at high speed, hot gas needs to be expelled.

New measurements from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) have measured the speed, intensity and volatility of ultra-fast streams of hot gas that periodically blast out from close by supermassive black holes.